How Dependent is the RI Delegation on Defense Industry Contributions?

The alleged $10 million kickback scandal involving a Rhode Island-based Navy official and defense contractor Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow (ASFT) has focused attention on campaign contributions offered up by ASFT to members of the Rhode Island Congressional delegation.

There is nothing to suggest anything untoward by members of the delegation. Indeed, as Senator Jack Reed's spokesman Chip Unruh noted in a piece that appeared in the ProJo on Sunday, the indictment doesn't appear to involve the earmark process at all.

Nonetheless, we thought it would be interesting to provide a glimpse at how dependent the delegation is on defense industry campaign contributions. The following tables - which total up contributions by sector for 2005-2010 - are courtesy of Open Secrets. David Cicilline, elected this past fall, is not included. His predecessor, Patrick Kennedy, is.

Some of the results you might expect: Reed and Congressmen Kennedy and James Langevin, all of whom served on key defense-related committees during the period in question, got more from the defense industry than Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Others are a little more surprising. Defense industry contributions were further down the list than you might expect for Reed and Kennedy - ranking 8th out of 13 industries for Reed and 7th out of 13 for Kennedy. Defense contributions ranked 3rd out of 13 for Langevin, the one member of the delegation who is not yet returning donations from the two men named in the kickback scheme. Here are the numbers: